By Chris Spangler
Monday marked moving day for Crown of Life Christian Academy in Fort Atkinson.
More than 30 volunteers gathered at the new parochial school building to move desks, bookshelves and other furnishings from Bethany Lutheran Church into their new digs at 535 Berea Dr.
A packed semi arrived shortly after noon, after some 10 pickup trucks and many trailers, minivans and other personal vehicles transported items earlier in the morning.
“God is good, and these people are amazing,” K-8 art teacher Tiffany Rahn said of the moving crew.
The 27,570-square-foot school on the city’s northwest side consists of eight classrooms, a STEAM (Science, Art, Technology, Engineering and Math) lab, a music and art classroom, a cafeteria, a library/media center, an administrative wing and a full-size high school gymnasium.
The gymnasium will feature two full middle-school sized basketball courts with retractable and adjustable hoops side to side, volleyball courts and bleachers with a 300-specctator capacity.
Rahn said that the painting and striping of the gym floor is slated for Aug. 16. After the floor is cured, the students and staff will be able to start using the room in mid-September, with the bleachers arriving in October.
“We should be ready for full use by basketball season,” Rahn said.
Construction plans include a Phase 2, which would add about another 10,000 square feet of space on the school. It would allow for \five more full classrooms, which would give you (another) 125- to 150-student capacity, expand locker-room facilities for the gym, and (provide) additional office and teacher support space.
Phase 1 included all utility needs for future expansion, which would make Phase 2 more cost effective when that time comes.
When Phase 2 is complete, Crown of Life will have a total 350- to 375-student capacity.
Crown of Life traces its roots trace back to September 2017, when the Bethany Lutheran Church congregation voted to open a new school on the existing Fort Atkinson church campus.
When the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod-affiliated school opened in 2018-19, there were 126 students. The following two school years saw enrollments of 146 and 165, respectively.
It expects to have a student body of 235 in preschool through eighth grade when its fifth year of operation begins this August.
Crown of Life is in the middle of a campaign to cover a five-year, $1.5 million pledge loan to help offset the $3.8 million construction loan. It is in the second year of the fundraising campaign, the goal is to have the five-year loan paid off in three years.
Crown of Life’s revenue streams to cover the annual budget of more than $1 million include Bethany Lutheran Church, 16%; external donations, 7%; tuition, 16%; school choice, 28% last year; the Special Needs Scholarship Program, another state voucher program, 18%; extended care/preschool tuition and fees, 8%; and other subsidy, 7%.
Two photos above: Volunteers use pickups, vans and trailers to help move furnishings into the new Crown of Life Christian Academy building Monday morning.
Third-grader Henry Schreiber, Fort Atkinson, carries a bookshelves into a classroom.
Isaac Garcia, at left, and his brother, Caleb, both of Fort Atkinson, move a cabinet into a classroom.
Furnishings and supplies await unpacking in the first-grade classroom.
Volunteers place a cabinet on rollers to move it from the school’s entryway to a classroom.
A high-school-sized gymnasium receives finishing touches. The floor is scheduled for painted and striped Aug. 16.
The school’s cafeteria stands ready to greet students.
Art teacher Tiffany Rahn visits the science and STEAM classroom.
Volunteers carry furnishings into a classroom at Crown of Life Christian Academy.
A library is among amenities students will find in the new building.
The entryway of the new parochial school stands ready to greet its school community.
Chris Spangler photos.
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